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Mandy Zuo

At 89, Gao Zeng is confined to a wheelchair, his eyes have grown dim, he is nearly deaf and his thought process works much more slowly than it used to.
But when asked about his experiences during the second Sino-Japanese war, Gao is able to clearly recall how, at age 17, he killed a Japanese soldier in Beijing and fled to Shanxi to join the Kuomintang army.
Wiping tears from his eyes at a nursing home in the outer suburbs of Beijing, Gao lamented how the government had never taken care of him properly.
However, authorities recently announced plans to give former KMT soldiers who fought the Japanese the same social security benefits granted to those who served under the leadership of the Communist Party.
"I'm happy," he said about the plan. But he added that it still has to be implemented. "How many years do I still have?"
Gao's daughter, Gao Aihua, sent him to a nursing home in 2008 as she is unable to look after both her father, who can't walk because of paralysis, and her mother, who suffered from dementia.
Gao Zeng draws retirement pay of less than 2,000 yuan (HK$2,512) every month, but that covers less than a third of the 7,000-yuan monthly charge for the nursing home.
Indeed, the government's decision to offer financial support to KMT veterans who served their country came too late for most of them.
Only 2,674 KMT veterans remain alive on the mainland, with an average age of 93, according to Sun Mian, who founded the Guangzhou-based New Weekly magazine, and who has been spent the past couple of years helping them. Sun said immediate action was needed to improve their care. a Guangzhou-based magazine founder, "The year before last, 55 KMT veterans died [on the mainland]," he said. "Last year, 300 died. And so far this year, 200."
In response to a National People's Congress deputy's proposal earlier this month to provide special care for such veterans, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said it has notified departments to provide them social security and preferential prices at nursing homes.
Sun Chunlong, founder of the Shenzhen Long-yue Charity Foundation, which is dedicated to providing aid to veterans, has called the action a major step forwards in a statement on his microblog.
Though former president Hu Jintao openly acknowledged eight years ago that the KMT had helped fight the invading Japanese, this is the first time that authorities have taken concrete steps to support them. At the 60th anniversary of Japan's defeat, Hu said the KMT "struck a heavy blow to the Japanese army" fighting on the front lines in several major battles.
Gao Aihua recalled how her father "cried in front of the television" as he heard Hu's speech, but she added that "nothing real has happened in the last eight years". Her father had kept details about his war experience to himself until Hu's speech in 2005.

"My brothers and I hated him when we were young, because his identity as a former KMT soldier had a bad influence over our lives," she said. The family was looked down upon. Their educations and job opportunities were affected.
Fu Guoqian, another KMT veteran in Beijing, now 93, has spent years unsuccessfully seeking social welfare from the Beijing municipal government.
A cadet at the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou from 1940-43 and later an instructor at the Sino-American Special Technical Co-operative Organisation in Chongqing , Fu was jailed as a counter-revolutionary in Xinjiang from 1951-64 and then worked there until his retirement.
And although he returned home to Beijing after retiring, Fu must draw his pension and medical insurance from Xinjiang. Thus, he must return to Xinjiang if he falls ill and wants his medical fees reimbursed.
He's sceptical about whether he will see any benefits from the government's plan.
"What would I wish for at an age of over 90? Health, if I had to say something," he said.
But despite their problems, Gao and Fu are much better off compared with some veterans in other provinces, according to Sun Mian.
After all these years, he said, discrimination against KMT veterans still existed. He recalled being questioned when visiting an elderly man in suburban Nanjing .
"Some villagers asked me why on earth I was visiting him, since he was a 'KMT reactionary'," Sun Mian said.
In May, Sun posted an open letter to President Xi Jinping , urging he pay attention to the former KMT soldiers.
"In three to five years, all of the survivors from the war against Japanese aggression will pass away," Sun wrote. "Raise your hand high in mercy, and they will die with dignity. Give them a badge and apologise to them on behalf of the country."


Help comes too slowly for KMT veterans who fought Japan

KMT veteran Gao Zeng's pension pays less than a third of his nursing home bill. Photo: Simon Song

Gao Zeng, 89, suffers from bad eyesight and poor hearing. Photo: Simon Song

News

China

KMT veterans continue to die in poverty despite recent efforts by Beijing to recognise their contributions and give them support


At 89, Gao Zeng is confined to a wheelchair, his eyes have grown dim, he is nearly deaf and his thought process works much more slowly than it used to.


Help comes too slowly for KMT veterans who fought Japan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}KMT veterans continue to die in poverty despite recent efforts by Beijing to recognise their contributions and give them support

KMT veterans continue to die in poverty despite recent efforts by Beijing to recognise their contributions and give them support